Detailed Reviews [Local 7 - 2002 - "Substrat"]

Prologue. I have never heard of this band until now. Most likely, "Substrat" is their debut album.

The Album. It is really easy to depict the contents of the album when all of the songs that are featured on it were created in the same stylistic key and without any departures from it. The stylistic substratum of the debut album by Local 7 is truly monolithic and in many ways original. The best definition of this all-instrumental music would probably be the semi-heavy Classic Prog-Metal of a moderate complexity. Although the eight pieces that are featured on the album are very interesting and thematically different among themselves, all of them can be described with the same words for each of them. (Which, though, doesn't diminish the value of the album as a whole.) Each of the tracks on the album consists of a wide variety of different themes, the number of which would be enough for any commercial Hard Rock band (like Aerosmith, for example) to make up the whole album. All of the arrangements are built around the truly masterful and very diverse solos and riffs of electric guitar and consist of seemingly endless interplay between them, solos of bass guitars, and passages of synthesizer. The drumming is also masterful and diverse throughout the album. The changes of theme, tempo, and mood are often truly kaleidoscopic. Using mostly the odd measures, the band jumps from one musical dimension to another like a cricket. So sometimes, it is really difficult to trace the development of the musical events upon the initial hearing of this album. However, already after the second time listening to it, most of you will know that the melodiousness is typical for Local 7 no less than the complexity.

Summary. The latter factor indicates that this album should get a large audience consisting of the lovers of both of Classic and Neo Prog-Metal. Furthermore, I think that people, who prefer the high-quality Neo Art- (Symphonic) Rock and moderately complex Classic Art-Rock as well, will probably also be pleased with the music of Local 7. All in all, I find "Substrat" a truly impressive debut.

VM. April 10, 2002